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In-Between Identities

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[It all started off with the very forgettable Dell Streak; the temptation to put really large screens into the hands of the consumer and call them…gasp…phones! It's an identity crisis if you ever saw one, really. I mean, do you call these devices phones with tablet aspirations? Or tablets with a phone complex? I looked at the two devices—the Acer Iconia Smart S300 and the Samsung Galaxy Note—to decipher this form factor. Featuring an 4.8-inches screen, the Iconia Smart eschews the traditional 16:9 widescreen format (width-to-height ratio) you usually see on smartphones for an unusual 21:9 aspect ratio, which means the phone is long and narrow. It is rather large, long rather, for most pockets, but you know what? It works, at least for videos and web browsing. The 1024x480-resolution high pixel-density screen delivers videos that are sharp and clear, and if you're near a LCD TV, the Smart will output content via an HDMI connection, or wirelessly via DLNA. When you browse the web on it, web pages have much more room to breathe, especially when you hold the device in landscape mode. Otherwise, it is moderately specced, with a single-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, Android 2.3 and 512 MB of memory. The 8-megapixel camera, pretty decent speakers and built in noise cancellation are a nice touch. The Samsung Galaxy Note takes a slightly different approach—take the Galaxy S II and stretch its dimensions to fit in a 5.3-inch screen, and you can imagine what the device looks like. Think of it as a notepad in your front shirt pocket, only much more expensive! The display bests even the Smart's - viewing photos and graphics, web pages is quite the treat when you have this much real estate to work with. The onscreen keyboard is fun to use as well, thanks to the larger keys. Where the Note differs from pretty much every smartphone on the block is the inclusion of … and don't call it a stylus … the S Pen! Apart from letting you draw on the Note's screen and even write on the screen in your own handwriting, with the recognition software doing an okay-ish job in converting your handwriting to text. I quite liked the tap and hold feature to capture an instant screenshot, which it then opens in an image editor for annotation, signing, doodles - basically anything you want. That said, when you're done having fun on the Note, you will wonder how exactly you will carry it on a day-to-day basis. Try before you buy. With these ph-ablets (for lack of a better term) what works and what doesn't? More importantly, should one buy a tablet and a much smaller phone, does this one-size-fit-all approach work? Good as the phablets are, real tablets (the 7-10 inch sort) are much better than these devices for web browsing, gaming and movie watching, while your everyday smartphone does the social network, calls and camera bit and edges ahead of these chaps on account of sheer portability. Acer Iconia Smart S300 Rating: 7/10 Price: Rs 28, 990 URL: http://bit.ly/sNLI63 Samsung Galaxy Note Rating: 8/10 Price: Rs 34,990 URL: http://bit.ly/vBaX7e <table style="width: 600px;" border="1" cellspacing="0" align="left"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;">Charting New Territories</td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="/businessworld/system/files/uncharted-3_5-mdm.jpg" width="300" height="238" style="float: left; margin: 5px;">Is it possible for expectations to be set too high for the latest (and last) game in the Uncharted franchise? With Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog Software delivered such a massive leap to the gameplay and plot that if you go into Uncharted 3 with the same expectations, prepare to be disappointed. That's not to say it's a bad game, by any measure. Uncharted 3 starts with the familiar Nathan Drake and his seasoned mentor Victor Sullivan, looking for a lost treasure in a mysterious land, before the bad guys get there. Unlike its predecessors, Uncharted 3 adds a vital dash of predictability, especially useful since the majority of the audience who will pick up the game may well be familiar with the games that came before it. So, while the gameplay still revolves around climbing over stuff and shooting bad guys, the twists in the interaction between the main characters veer the story in unexpected directions. And while you cover the levels at a frenetic pace, the developers have done a fine job in mixing the gameplay with cutting edge graphics and excellent cinematography. The game is an experience I would recommend even to first timers – from single player to multiplayer, this game sings. Top notch stuff this.   Rating: 9/10 Price: Rs 2,699 (standard edition) URL: http://bit.ly/ufCG1H</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>                         technocool at kanwar dot net<br style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">twitter@2shar